Berrys' Calvados, Lecompte (40%)

This recent addition to our own range is the only Calvados ever to have worn our label. A beautifully fruit-driven Calvados, sure to gladden the heart of any cider-brandy (or proper West-Country scrumpy) aficionado with lashings of bruised apple and delicate vanilla spice to the fore. Just like the very best apple pie, this has a lovely, comforting structure with enough bright freshness to intrigue the palate.Robert Whitehead - Spirits Specialist

Lecompte S.A.C.B. is based on a tiny farm surrounded by orchards in a picturesque area often thought of as the heartland of Calvados, the Pays d’Auge. Pot-still distillation, quiet maturation in oak and multi-vintage blending are the traditional production methods practiced by the cellar master. This example shows luscious, apple-pie fruit and seductive, spicy vanilla with a wickedly moreish finish.

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The Producer

The history of Maison Lecompte begins in 1923, when a local wine and spirit merchant decided to sell the rest of his company but hold onto his collection of vintage Calvados. He then devoted himself entirely to the aging, blending and promotion of Calvados. Maison Lecompte was born.

There, in the peaceful cellars of his farm at Notre Dame de Courson, he laid down these casks of precious Calvados to continue their slow alchemical evolution in peace. And there they stayed for decades, entirely forgotten. Eighty-five years later the owners of Maison Lecompte asked Richard Prével, a third-generation Cellar Master, to create the most extraordinary, the most perfect and the most complete Calvados ever made. The Cellar Master spent five years blending, researching, composing countless combinations of Lecompte’s precious eaux-de-vie in a tireless quest for perfection. As he searched the cellars for the rarest vintages to be used in this special blend, he came across several barrels which had been forgotten since 1923 – the barrels with which Maison Lecompte was founded.